New York-based BlockFi, a provider of crypto-backed lending products, has secured Three Arrows Capital as its recent strategic investor through a secondary transaction. Three Arrows Capital is also an institutional client of BlockFi.
Founded by Su Zhu and Kyle Davies, Three Arrows Capital is a hedge and crypto fund manager that focuses on emerging markets and has been providing risk-adjusted returns for nearly a decade.
The deal comes barely two months after the crypto lending firm has raised $30 million in Series B funding led by Valar Ventures, with participation from a host of other investors.
BlockFi is backed by billionaire Mike Novogratz’s Galaxy Capital, which, in 2018, raised nearly $58 million in various funding rounds. The Winklevoss twins’ Gemini exchange is also providing custody of BlockFi accounts, which recently added digital asset insurance coverage.
According to the company’s statement, the BlockFi crypto lending platform has attracted so far over $650 million in deposits from retail, corporate, and institutional crypto investors.
BlockFi launched its service earlier in March 2019, offering loans to those who are interested in borrowing crypto, starting from $2,000, and go as high as $100 million, against Bitcoin , Ethereum , and stablecoins.
BlockFi hikes interest yields
BlockFi has recently raised interest rates on its Interest Account (BIA). BlockFi’s new yields for those lending up to 5 BTC rose to 6.0 percent. Right now, “Tier 1” customers loaning up to this amount saw a yield of 3.6 percent. Likewise, ETH lenders experienced a rate increase to 4.5 percent on loans of up to 500 ETH from 2%-3.6% APY previously.
Rates for Gemini dollar (GUSD) and USD Coin (USDC) remains unchanged at 8.6 percent APY, according to BlockFi.
Commenting on the news, Su Zhu, co-founder and CEO of Three Arrows Capital, said: “In being an institutional client of BlockFi, we quickly recognized that the company’s mission of helping to expand the cryptocurrency ecosystem aligned with our own philosophy for the space. We have had a great relationship with BlockFi and when presented an opportunity to become more involved on the investor level, the answer was evident.”
“It’s quite validating to have one of our clients seek to come on board in a greater capacity. Bringing on Su Zhu and the team at Three Arrows Capital aligns well with our focus on international expansion of our institutional services offering - which is one of our strategic initiatives for this year,” added Zac Prince, CEO and co-founder, BlockFi. “
